Wind, Fire, and Water
by Thaedras
Summary: Fatima blacked out when led into the detention room. But what would happen to her next? My update finally! WarrenOC
1. Chapter 1

**Wind, Fire, and Water**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High or any of the characters, blah blah... you know the drill.**

"When I tell you to, you will step onto the platform and state your name and power followed by a demonstration. Is that CLEAR!" Coach Boomer's voice pushed the first row of freshmen back a few feet.

Everything went as it always did. The kids who were deemed to have hero type powers were put into the hero class, and the other kids which Boomer deemed to have less useful powers were put into the sidekick class.

When everyone was had been classified the gym was filled with a low tone of grumbling.

"Quiet down you whiner-babies!" Coach Boomer yelled. "There's still one left." The freshmen looked around amongst themselves, having been certain that there wasn't anyone left.

"You in the back! Front and Center!" The freshmen all parted as a girl with long white hair made her way up next to Boomer.

"Name and power… hey, you look a little old to be a freshman. Oh wait, you're that transfer student aren't you? He glanced at his clipboard. "Fatima Moore, sophomore. Well, let's see what you've got."

**A/N: Yeah, I know it's really short, but I'm just trying to figure out how this site works. (first time posting up here)** **There will be familiar faces in the next chapter I promise!**


	2. Wind and the floor

**Wind, Fire, and Water: Chapter 2 **

"Well, let's see what you've got." Fatima's hair rustled a little as she rose up off the ground a few inches. She always preferred to hover a little while using her powers. She started to move her hands but stopped as she looked around. She leaned over and whispered something in Coach Boomer's ear. He looked at her questionably then signaled for the car which promptly fell from the ceiling. Fatima raised one of her hands and the car abruptly stopped in midair as if it had encountered an invisible wall. Coach Boomer looked up with approval.

"A wind master huh?" he commented.

"Actually, I don't control wind, I control air," she corrected. "If it was wind all I could do was blow stuff around, but making air do other things is much more useful." All of the freshmen took a few steps back. They were unsure how Boomer would take to being corrected, but Fatima continued on, oblivious to any danger.

"By changing the density of air I can create invisible and quite solid walls. And by manipulating the air around and object, I can make it do just about anything." She twirled a finger in the air and the car began to spin like a top. Boomer frowned at her so she decided to do something more drastic. She smirked and closed her hand into a fist.

Will Stronghold, son of the famous Commander and Jetstream, walked through the halls of Sky High alongside his girlfriend Layla and their friends Ethan, Zack, and Magenta. Will was about to inquire about Warren's location when they suddenly heard a loud crashing sound followed by screams. They smiled.

"Power placement," they all said and laughed as they continued on towards their classes.

Warren Peace watched as his friends made their way down the hall away from him. He could have caught up with them easily, but decided to be alone as usual. He pulled the books he needed out of his locker as a crashing sound and screams reverberated through the halls. He decided to go peek at how power placement was going.

"Did I mention I could do that?" Fatima asked with a smirk. Boomer looked up at the car which was now only a ball of scrap metal. He pushed a button on the remote and it was retracted up into the ceiling again.

"Now that's more like it, HERO!" he declared. Fatima couldn't help but smile. She had just made it into the hero class without even showing half of what she could do with air. Everyone jumped a little when they heard the bell ring.

"Ok, get a move on!" Coach Boomer yelled and they all scrambled for the door. "Moore, not so fast." Fatima turned. "Principle Powers wants to see you in her office. She'll give you your schedule." Fatima turned around and quickly made her way out and towards the Principle's office, grumbling to herself. What did Powers want now? Hadn't she done enough?

Warren glanced through the doors of the gym and saw a girl in white with long hair to match. He heard Boomer declare her a hero and he wondered vaguely what her power was as he walked away, not wanting to be run over by the mob of freshmen that was making its way to the doors he had been standing at.

Fatima was not in a good mood when she was finally released from Principle Powers' office nearly an hour later. She poured over her schedule as she made her way out. She had already missed her first class because of their little chat. Furious, she threw open the door only to run into what felt like a brick wall. Papers and books flew everywhere as she landed on the ground with a thump. She rubbed her backside painfully, but froze when she saw a hand in front of her face.

Her eyes drifted up the arm attached to it and finally settled on the face of the last person she had expected…

**A/N: Hey there, hope that you're not too bored... I guess I shouldn't expect anyone to care enough to message or anything, but I'll keep updating anyway. **


	3. General Discomfort

**Wind, Fire, and Water: Chapter 3**

**Oh my god, I was just looking through the first chapter and I found 2 typos. I feel so ashamed. I must now pray to the allmighty fanfiction gods for forgiveness. In the mean time here's the next chapter finally... **

Fatima stared up into the face of what had to be the hottest guy she'd ever seen. What was that phrase… tall dark and handsome? Well he certainly fit the description. His leather jacket and ripped jeans screamed to be feared yet adored. She blinked, then realized that he was offering her a hand up, which she took hesitantly. She mumbled an apology while bending to gather up her books, wondering silently who the mysterious stranger was.

Warren Peace had been making his way peacefully to his next class when the girl had slammed into him. The impact had barely fazed him, but the girl had bounced off him and had fallen to the floor, her books and papers scattered everywhere. He sighed and offered her a hand up. Though it had been her fault in the first place, he wasn't completely without chivalry.

When the girl finally stood he looked her up and down and for a second thought that he'd gone colorblind. White… practically everything about her was white. Her hair stretched down almost a foot past her waist, and shimmering pale strands fell in her face, but she made no move to brush them away, as if she wished to hide. She had a small frame, but she looked athletic, her curves being hugged by a spaghetti strap shirt and a long skirt that flowed around her ankles. Her belly button peeked out from the strip of skin that the garments left exposed. Her hair, her clothes… all white. Even her complexion was unusually pail. The only thing about her that wasn't white were her eyebrows and eyelashes. Those ridiculously long eyelashes… when she finally raised her eyes enough he saw that they were almost white too, but were touched with the slightest bit of stormy blue. As she bent to gather her things from the ground, her long and slender legs poked out of two long slits in her skirt that ran up the front of her legs to about her mid-thigh. Warren noticed that above that point the skirt was skintight.

Fatima busied herself gathering papers and whatnot, hoping that the stranger would just go away. As much as she hated it, she wasn't really a people person and didn't feel like dealing with anyone new, even if it was a hot guy. But to her dismay he began to help her pick up her papers.

"It's ok, I think I've got it," she said and waved her hand over the remaining papers, making them file neatly into a pile in her arms. She watched as his dark locks rustled slightly in the breeze that her action had caused and felt a slight tingle of warmth in her cheeks.

"Whatever," the guy said and walked past her without another word. Fatima looked after his retreating form, feeling almost offended at the way he had dismissed her. Before she could stop, she found herself yelling after him.

"My name's Fatima if you care!" the words dripped with sarcasm.

"I don't." The statement smacked her in the face and she hurried off to her next class feeling a bit deflated. Great, just another name to put on my ever-growing list of people who don't care about me… if I even knew his name… She quickly glided down the halls—literally—and found a seat in the back of her next class. This is going to be a long day, she thought to herself as the teacher started a droning welcome lecture.

Lunch: the period of socialization and laughter… and trying to find a place to sit by yourself when you don't have any friends. Fatima gritted her teeth as she looked around the lunchroom, clutching her tray of semi-edible food that she'd just paid for. Sure there were plenty of empty seats, but all were next to someone or another and she wasn't going for that. She wished that this place had an open courtyard with lunch tables, like her last school. Then she could have gone and sat under a tree at least.

She sighed and doubled her efforts. No possibilities except… she honed in on a table that looked empty. A few steps closer and she noticed a single figure hunched over a book at the table's end. It was that guy from before. She debated turning back and just throwing her lunch away, but she was already halfway there. Wondering vaguely why no one else was sitting at the table she sat down in the seat furthest from him and stared down at her lunch. She pushed the tray away and retrieved a book from her bag, glancing over at the guy as she did so. He was giving her a look that would have made anyone else whither and die on the spot.

"What do you think you're doing?" he growled at her. Is he ever hospitable, she wondered?

"You don't need the entire table do you?" she said in a resigned tone. "Please?" she asked.

"I wonder why Warren still sits by himself," Will Stronghold commented from his lunch table. The whole group glanced over towards the flame-thrower who was completely immersed in a book at a table away from theirs.

"You know that he's still your best friend Will," Layla said, giving his hand an affectionate squeeze. "Sometimes old habits are hard to break, even if you want to," she said and he smiled up at her.

"Hey, looks like he's got company over there," Magenta remarked and they all looked over again and saw that there was a white-haired girl sitting at the other end of Warren's table. It looked like they were staring each other down, and the group wondered if a fight would be imminent.

Warren looked into her eyes… they were almost pleading. What the hell, he didn't feel like a fight anyway. He grunted and turned back to his book.

Fatima sighed with relief. That could have been messy, well… messier, she supposed. She closed her book and decided to eat her lunch after all, though after tasting it she almost regretted it.

The rest of her day passed with almost no incident at all, just the way she liked it. The next day however, was just not her kind of day at all, starting from the very beginning.

She touched down in front of a group of freshmen who were piling off their bus. Boy was she glad that she could fly. Having to ride the school bus every day would only be another miserable experience in which she would have to search for a seat amongst strangers, and she'd already had enough of that. The bell rang for everyone to go to class, but Fatima was still searching for where to go. She glanced at her schedule again.

"Mad Science lab? Where the heck is that?" she mumbled to herself and took off in the wrong direction again. She hadn't been able to attend first period the day before because of her chat with the principle. She growled softly as she thought about the conversation they had had.

Fatima was late. She hated being late. That meant that everyone was looking at you. But all the same she had to go in once she found the Mad Science lab. She tried not to stare at the teacher's huge head, but it was so big she thought that she might burst out laughing at any second.

"Ah, Miss Moore, it seems that you've finally decided to grace us with your presence," he said when she handed over her schedule for him to check. "I would like to add that we have assigned seats, so if you would please take a seat in the third row back," he pointed towards an empty chair. But when she saw who else was sitting at the table, glaring back at her, she muttered an expletive.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

**Hmm... I wonder who Fatima's lab partner could be? I know it's really obvious but oh well. Oh, on a side note, I never intended her name to be Fatima. I was actually trying to decide whether it should be Sky or River, but since I couldn't decide I was trying not to call her a specific name in my head. Unfortunamely I was playing a game with a girl named Fatine in it, and it just happened. Well, it all turned out for the best in the end.  
**

** Glad you all like it so far! (I'm glad that I finally got to describe her, I was just dieing to!) The next two chapters I should be able to churn out fairly quickly so don't you worry your little heads my chickadees! Wow, I don't know where that came from, that was weird...**


	4. Sandpaper to soothing

**Finally! This chapter gave me such a hard time but here it is! And it's a really long one too so maybe I'll be able to take a break for a while... nah!**

"You've got to be kidding me," Fatima growled as she looked to who would be her lab partner. That same guy… why did she keep on running into him? She didn't move, maybe the teacher had meant one of the other rows? She glanced sidelong at them, but no such luck.

"Mr. Peace, if you would kindly raise your hand so Miss Moore knows where her seat is?" Mr. Medulla said and he reluctantly raised a hand. Fatima's eye twitched a little. No more stalling now, she thought and swiftly made her way over and sat down, avoiding eye contact at all costs. She propped her head up with an arm and started taking notes as Medulla continued with the lecture he had begun before her arrival.

Though she knew she should be paying attention—after all, she was new to just about every subject in the school—but still she found her mind wandering. What was that guy's deal anyways? Now, what did the teacher say his name was… Peace? She smirked. A bit ironic. Wait… she thought back to some of the conversations she had overheard in the halls and lunchroom the day before. Peace, she had heard that name. Something about fire, and… a lot of mention to homecoming the year before. There was also a lot of talk around about some kid named Will Strong-something… he was involved in whatever had happened last year as well. Fatima hated being new; it made her feel ignorant.

Ten minutes passed until Mr. Medulla asked a question to the class. No one raised their hands as he looked around hopefully. You've got to be kidding me, Fatima thought for the second time that hour and grudgingly raised a hand.

"Miss Moore, I'm afraid you'll have to wait to go to the lavatory," Medulla said, not thinking that she could possibly know the answer. Fatima glared.

"The cooling point of a heat ray is directly linked to the power source of the second relay circuit," she said confidently. Medulla stared at her, shocked. She had never before stepped into his classroom but was able to answer so perfectly. She smiled a little at the amazed looks she was now getting from her fellow classmates.

"Well, at least one of my student's heads isn't filled with cobwebs," Medulla remarked and gave them an assignment.

Ok, heat ray… heat ray… I can do this. Fatima looked at the parts lying out in front of her. That Peace guy hadn't said or done anything since they had been given the assignment. She took a deep breath and began the assembly. The minutes dragged by as she continued the tedious work.

Hey, halfway there! She smiled to herself.

"Can you hand me the heat coil?" she asked, momentarily forgetting who she was sitting with. Warren looked over at the girl wordlessly and she looked back. "That one there," she said and pointed. He looked down and handed her the part. By the time she finished, she felt as if she had been rubbed all over with sandpaper. Didn't he care about what grade they made at all? Mr. Medulla started around the room to check everyone's work. When he came over to their table, he looked at Warren with contempt.

"Ah Mr. Peace. What may I ask did you do to contribute to this?" he asked and held up their perfectly assembled heat ray.

"Oh, he helped Mr. Medulla. Really, he did," Fatima said immediately. Warren perked an eyebrow at this but remained silent. The bell rang and everyone made a dash for the door.

"Remember we'll be starting our study into the principles of beams tomorrow!" Medulla called after his retreating students.

"I suppose that you want me to thank you f-," Warren started but Fatima walked past him, totally ignoring his existence. She smirked at the fact that she had gotten him to speak. Ha, let's see how Mr. Grouchy likes getting ignored. She was fairly pleased with herself, and was even able to find a lunch table by herself later. This day just keeps getting better and better, she smiled to herself. Her mood lasted until the last period of the day: P.E. She just had three words: Save the Citizen.

-----

Fatima sat on the back row of the bleachers by herself in her P.E. uniform, hoping to hell that she wouldn't get picked to play. From what she could tell it was a pointless game meant to pit students against one another in a violent display of dominance. One team tries to save the citizen, and the other team tries to stop them.

She watched as the two heroes failed to defeat their villains in time and the citizen dummy was shredded.

"TIME!" Coach Boomer called from his referee perch just after the buzzer sounded. "Keller, Daniels, your citizen is now cat food because you couldn't get it together." He turned to the two students who had been posing as the villains and were now standing confidently, awaiting their next opportunity to thrash more heroes.

"I assume you want to be villains again?" he asked.

"Of course," said the shorter one.

"What would make you think otherwise?" replied the taller one.

From her time up in the stands, Fatima had been able to determine a lot about the two villains. Their names were Whip and Legs, and they were known around school as the most accomplished bullies and pranksters. Legs, the shorter one, had the ability to jump very high and very far, and he was also able to phase through just about anything he wanted. The taller one, who was called Whip, was able to stretch his arms to the length of about 10 feet and use them as weapons; hence his name. There were whispers about his older brother, but Fatima couldn't hear anymore because Boomer was talking again.

"So, who do you want to torment this time?" he asked. The two juniors conversed amongst themselves for a moment, occasionally glancing up into the bleachers, then announced their decision.

"We want Peace," Whip said, pointing. Warren stood and looked very intimidating.

"And that girl, up at the top," Legs stated, and pointed directly at Fatima. Everyone in the gym turned to look at who they were talking about. Ooh, this just wasn't her day… again.

"Moore! Peace! Gear up!" Boomer yelled, and before she knew it, she was strapping on body armor and walking onto the gym floor alongside the one person at school that she didn't get along with. The gym seemed more like an arena now that she was down in the middle of it, she noticed. She could practically hear the order to release the lions as they took their starting positions and 3 minutes were put on the clock.

"So what's your power anyways?" she asked Warren, trying to formulate a plan.

"Just worry about trying to keep conscious," he said, not even sparing her a glance. Fatima had half a mind to object to his statement but her thought was interrupted by Coach Boomer's yell.

"BEGIN!"

"Come on Peace, let's play," Legs said and disappeared through the floor. Warren powered up and waited for his opponent to reappear. Fatima didn't have a chance to notice because she was too busy dodging Whips barrage of attacks. Fortunately for her she was very nimble, but it was taking everything she had to stay out of the way of his arms which he was snapping around like whips, no pun intended. She did a back handspring, just barely getting out of the way of a blow that was aimed at her head. She flicked out a hand in midair and blew his feet out from under him.

She smirked and landed gracefully before taking to the air, hoping to keep out of range of those appendages.

Legs appeared again out of the floor behind Warren and took hold of the flame-thrower. He smiled and jumped clear up to the rafters of the gym and threw him forcefully back to the ground.

Fatima gasped. A fall from that height would injure him badly. She knew from personal experience when she had first taught herself how to fly. She reached out and thickened the air near the ground where he was falling, so instead of crashing to the floor, he slowed as he hit the modified air and landed on his feet softly. He powered up again and began throwing fireballs at Legs, who had perched himself up the rafters to get a clear view of the destruction. Unfortunately for Warren, Legs was able to phase through every ball of fire that he sent at him, and he was soon on the attack again.

Fatima had started toward the citizen when she was smacked across the face by one of Whip's arms, sending her crashing to the ground, and leaving an angry red line on her cheek. Before she could even recover, he grabbed one of her ankles and threw her hurtling into one of the obstacles that were set up around the gym floor. Whip waved to the crowd as they cheered, but as soon as he turned his back, Fatima sent the remnants of the metal obstacle flying into him.

"Come on Peace, is that the best you've got?" Legs exclaimed while dodging the teen's fire blasts with ease. Warren kept on throwing. One had to get through eventually. Meanwhile, Fatima's temper flared as she advanced towards Whip who was picking himself up off the floor painfully. She picked up a piece of the now shattered obstacle, careful not to cut herself on the sharp edges.

"That's it! No more playing around," she glared and Whip took a step back, slightly intimidated by the infuriated girl who was advancing on him. She stretched out a hand in front of her, getting ready to use one of her most powerful skills. She looked over at the grinder which the citizen was dangling over. One minute on the clock… all she needed was one spark. She struck the piece of metal on the rim of the grinder and as soon as the spark appeared, the air in front of her hands ignited like a flame-thrower. She sent streams of fire at the flexible student who was running away at this point. Warren noticed the flames out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn't afford to look away from his own fight for a second. Fatima released the flames and reached out with her power to grab Whip's wrists. Then, none too gently, she tied his hands to two poles that were on their side of the gym floor, immobilizing him. He stared up at her in disbelief.

"But you're not a pyro! How did you do that?" he demanded, but Fatima wasn't listening. She had already turned on Legs who was still running circles around Warren.

Warren swore. This guy was really starting to get on his nerves, and no matter how he tried, none of his attacks got through. He was just about to scream with frustration when Legs suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"What the?" Legs tried to move, but to no avail. Warren looked up and saw Whip stretched out and tied up and Fatima with a hand pointed at Legs.

"Do it!" she yelled at Warren, keeping the air around Legs solid. She saw him trying to phase through her barrier, but was unable to. Warren smiled and threw a fireball that finally hit its mark, sending Legs flying into the sidewall. Fatima looked up a the clock. 15 seconds left.

"Burn the rope!" She said and Warren didn't have to be told again. But in a surprise attack, Legs jumped up to grapple with Fatima just as the fireball was sent. The rope was burning and Fatima needed to move the citizen so it wouldn't drop into the grinder, but couldn't concentrate enough with Legs attacking her in midair. She screamed and blasted him into the gym floor so hard that a small crater formed underneath him. Fatima turned and blew the citizen out of the way at the last second. The buzzer sounded and Boomer blew his whistle.

"Your villains are immobilized and the citizen is alive! HEROES WIN!" The whole gym erupted into loud cheering as Fatima landed on the ground again. She looked around with wide eyes. Were they cheering for her? For the first time in a while she smiled. But when the students rushed the floor, her smile faded as she realized just who they had been cheering for. She stumbled slightly as they all pushed past her to Warren. She looked over and saw that he was looking for a way out of the crowd which mainly consisted of swooning girls. She made her way towards one of the exits, unhooking her body gear and letting it fall to the floor. When she reached the door she looked back with a slightly sad face, and her gaze met with Warren's. He nodded at her with approval. Well, at least someone acknowledged her. She gave a weak smile and shrugged, then left the gym. She didn't care that there was only a few minutes left in the school day. As soon as she changed she flew away from the school, heading for her home.

-----

Minutes later, she touched down in the front yard of a large two-story house whose white paint was chipping. The bushes around the front door were overgrown, and the lawn was scattered with toys. She saw a car in the driveway and made her way towards the side of the house. Checking to see if anyone was around first, she flew up to a window on the second story. With a flick of her finger, the lock sprang open and she climbed inside. She quickly removed her white outfit and locked it safely in the trunk she kept in the back of her closet. Rifling through drawers, she pulled on a pair of blue jeans and a cream-colored long sleeve shirt with a hood. There was a lightning bolt on the front and the sleeves were orange. She glanced over at the trunk again as she began putting her long hair into two loose braids. The white outfit was one of the things that she didn't want her foster family to know about. It would just raise questions. As far as they were concerned, Fatima had won a scholarship and was attending a special prep school that was out of town.

She laid down on her bed and hugged her covers. She wondered how this family would react to knowing that she had super-powers. She had only been living with them for two months, but she already knew what they would think. They'd be just like her last family… fearing her, thinking her a freak. The thought brought her back to the conversation that she had with Principle Powers the day before.

_"I called you here because I wanted to check on how you have been doing in your new foster home," Powers said, lacing her fingers together on her desk in front of her. Fatima remained standing close to the door of the office, a not too happy look on her face. _

_"Sure, everything's great," she lied. Yeah, being uprooted from your ideal home and forced to go to a new town and a new school were her idea of fun. _

_"I've spoken with your foster parents, and they can't say enough how much they enjoy your company." There was a pause. "They tell me that you've been studying pretty hard." _

_"Well yeah, I've got to learn all the stuff that I missed last year. You know, when I was going to a normal high school." Fatima tried to keep her voice from sounding hostile, but the news about her foster parents was such a blatant lie. With the exception of a few group homes, this had to be the worst foster home she had been in. Her foster dad, Carl, was a drunk, and didn't work. He spends his time in his recliner and trying to get into everyone's pants who happens to pass by, especially hers. And her foster mother, Candace, was always out at parties and clubs. She had a job as a secretary in a company downtown, but she hardly ever went to work. When she did, it was only to screw her boss, and his son. Fatima smiled wryly. Of course the two had acted excited when the government had suggested that they take her. It just meant another check every month that they could spend on themselves instead of the kids that it was really for. _

_The kids… there were nine other kids in the house besides Fatima. It looked like a big house from the outside, but with 12 people living there, it was really cramped. She had considered herself lucky to get the broom closet of a room she had to herself. 10 kids, and they didn't do anything for them. Taking care of the younger kids fell to the older kids in the house. And being the second oldest, Fatima shared the responsibility with Gina, who was 17. _

_"Well, I'm so glad to hear that you're so dedicated to our curriculum here, also…"_

Fatima sat up in bed, and almost screamed. She hated that woman so much, and she'd never be able to tell her. She sighed and got out her mad science book and began to work on her remedial work that she had been assigned. How do they expect me to do well on the work this year, when I haven't even done all the work from last year? She rubbed her temples as she tried to memorize theorems. She waved a hand at her light switches and her fan came on. A second later her door opened. Fatima looked up.

Standing in her doorway was Gina, her older 'sister'. She was tall, had curly dark hair, and a tan. She smiled at the younger teen.

"You back already from that school of yours?" she asked and plopped down at the foot of the bed. Fatima held onto her books to prevent them from falling to the floor. "I didn't even hear you come in." Fatima smiled.

"Yeah well, you know how sneaky I am," she said. "Are you working tonight?"

"No, I got the night off, so you don't have to worry about missing homework to help out," Gina said and stood. "Take it easy kid." And with that, she was gone. Fatima smiled as she went back to her work. She liked Gina. She was, after all, the only person close to her age in the house, but she had always looked out for her and helped her whenever she could. Besides that, Gina was the only other person in the house who knew about her powers. She had caught her practicing one of her wind techniques in her room one day. (Fatima always remembered to lock her door since then.) Unlike her previous family, Gina thought that Fatima's powers were cool, and promised to keep it a secret.

It only took an hour for the rest of the kids to come home from their schools, and another two for Fatima to become fed up with the constant ruckus. She stuffed her white book bag with books and headed downstairs.

"I'm going to the library, I'll be back late," she said to Gina, who was trying to round up the twins, with Justin, the baby, propped up on her hip. She waved before grabbing Nick by the collar, stopping the seven year old from hitting his brother Chris again.

Fatima sighed and started towards the bus stop. She couldn't fly because too many people were home from work and would likely spot her, so public transportation it was.

Ahh, the glamorous life of a superhero in training, she thought to herself as she was forced to sit between a large, hairy man who had a severe BO problem, and a senile old woman who kept asking where Kathy was. It was only a five-minute ride, but man was she glad to finally get off of that contraption.

The first thing she did as she stepped off the bus was take a nice deep breath. She quickly smelled her shirt and breathed a sigh of relief that the smell hadn't clung to her. Now, which way to the library in this stupid town… she looked around and began walking.

-----

"Oh my god, what is with this place? It's never this confusing from the air," she muttered to herself after she had been walking for about a half hour. She turned another corner and could have sworn that she had come across the same street 10 minutes earlier. Her stomach rumbled angrily at her and she frowned.

"Ok ok already. I suppose I can stop for some food before starting the search again. Hmm…" she checked that she had that 50 dollar bill she had managed to swipe from Candace's bag the other day. All she would have done is buy a pair of shoes with it anyway, Fatima thought as she looked around for the nearest food joint. Besides, I needed lunch money, and this is sort of the same thing… her thoughts drifted off as she caught a whiff something that smelled good. She looked across the street and saw that the source of the heavenly smell was a small Chinese restaurant. Hmm, the Paper Lantern? Fatima thought it sounded a little hokey, but if the food tasted as good as it smelled then she didn't care.

Once inside she was led to a booth in a corner and handed a menu. Fatima looked around, noticing that it was actually a pretty small place, and there weren't that many people there. An idea popped into her head as her waitress came back for her order.

"Hi, actually I was wondering if you wouldn't mind me staying here to study?" she asked, pulling out a schoolbook for effect. "Oh, I'm ordering food too," she quickly added at the waitress' skeptical look.

"You pay, you stay," she said with a smile. Fatima almost laughed at the comment, but busied herself with ordering instead. After she left, Fatima leaned back and opened up her Classical Heroes literature book and began her work. Well, it was beginning to seem like the library deciding to cloak itself was turning out for the best.

-----

Two hours later, she had moved onto Mad Science and was having a hell of a time with it. Papers and books and plates of half-eaten food were strewn about the table in a slightly organized, yet haphazard way. Stupid schoolbooks, they ask one thing then say another, she thought angrily as she flipped through page after page, looking for the right answer. She was just about to give up entirely when she heard a semi-familiar voice.

"Are you still working on that?" Oh, it was a busboy. She held a hand protectively above the plate closest to the edge of the table, not looking up from the text in front of her.

"I'm fine," she said and flipped a few more pages.

"Well, the manager strongly suggests that you 'hurry up or order more food,'" he said. Fatima looked up incredulously.

"I beg your-," Fatima blinked in shock. "You! What are you doing here?"

Warren Peace looked at her, wondering why he hadn't recognized her sooner. The hair was a dead giveaway. As they both stared, the word 'cute' popped into his head as he looked over the surprised expression on her face, her street clothes, loosely braided hair, and the pair of chopsticks that were sticking out of her mouth.

"You work here, of course. What a stupid question," she said, quickly placing the chopsticks down on a plate. "But w-," she stopped herself. "No, that'd be a stupid one too…" There was an awkward silence between the two.

"So, do you know Dorvan's theorem on plasma coils? Because I just can't seem to find it," she said with an unexpected subject change that made Warren's head spin.

"What?"

"Well, the chapter review asks for it, but it's not in the chapter," she explained further, looking up at him. He raised an eyebrow in response. She sighed. "Look, I figure that since fate insists on throwing us into each other like this, then we should try to get on semi-friendly terms so we can at least stand each other next time it happens," she said, hoping that he would agree, because personally, she was getting real tired of the sandpaper feel.

Warren stared at her again. What she'd said had actually made logical sense. He shrugged and slid down into the seat across from her.

"Works for me," he said casually. Fatima breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, what's your first name anyways?" she asked. "Cuz I'm sick and tired of referring to you as 'that Peace guy.'" Warren was once again, staring at her in almost disbelief. This girl really hadn't heard of him? Well, no wonder why she doesn't take any crap from you, a voice in his head taunted. But still, it was almost relaxing to think about someone who had never heard of him, his reputation, or his father. To just start with what you've got in front of you.

"My name's Warren."

"Warren Peace…" Fatima repeated, smiling at the play on words. "That's a nice name."

Warren blinked. She liked his name? Most everyone he had met thought that it was just a really bad pun. No one except his mother had said that they liked it. He couldn't think of a response, so he ignited the tip of his finger casually and lit one of the candles that was on the table. She raised an eyebrow at him, a smirk tugging at a corner of her mouth. He smiled back.

-----

Fatima laughed. She didn't know why it was so easy to talk to him, but she decided not to question a good thing. She propped her arms up on the table while listening, her schoolwork now long forgotten. He seemed like a completely different person compared to the Warren that she had met at school. Maybe it was all that peer pressure to keep his tough-guy act in place. She laughed a little at the notion of Warren giving in to peer pressure.

"Well, I think I've taken too long a break as it is," he said finally, beginning to slide out of the booth. As if on cue, a mean-looking Chinese woman poked her head out of the kitchen and yelled at him.

"Warren! How many times must I tell you not to flirt with the customers? They don't buy more just to hear you talk!" she said in Cantonese. Warren rolled his eyes.

"I'll be there in a minute, calm down!" he yelled back in the same dialect. He turned back to Fatima with a resigned look on his face. He was about to say something when the woman yelled at him again. He turned to reply but stopped when he heard Fatima speak up.

"He said he'd be back in a minute woman!" she yelled in Cantonese, surprising the hell out of him and the woman in the kitchen. She smiled at Warren. "Thanks for talking, I hope you don't get in too much trouble." He stood. "See you in school?"

"Yeah," he replied and made his way into the kitchen. Fatima soon after heard a stream of arguing that even she couldn't understand. She sighed and turned back to her schoolbooks. Well, it was a nice break, but she needed to get some more work done before she could even think of quitting for the night.

-----

Warren lugged two bags of garbage into the dumpster that was behind the Paper Lantern. He wiped sweat off of his forehead, glad that his shift was finally over.

"Lock up will you," his boss told him in a stern voice as she made her way out. "Oh, that stupid girl in the corner fell asleep. Kick her out already." And with that Warren was alone. He hung his apron up and let his hair down then headed over to Fatima's booth. There she was, with her head resting on her papers, a pencil still in hand, and one of her long braids scrolled out on the table. He shook his head at her, and reached a hand over to wake her, but stopped when he saw a large packet of papers that were beside her. He picked it up and examined it with wide eyes. Were these all of the assignments that they were making her do? Man, how did they expect her to do all of this, plus all the work she was assigned this year? She must have really been working her butt off to do all this, he thought and felt a little sorry for her.

Slowly and carefully, he gathered all her work and books together and put them in her bag. After locking up, he swung the bag over his shoulder and then even more carefully, slid her out of the booth and picked her up. She stirred slightly, but settled down again with her head against his chest. She was a lot lighter than he had expected, and he then made his way out and up towards his apartment that was next door. He passed by several of his neighbors on the way up; they all began whispering to each other. Oh that's just the thing he needed. Rumors flying around the building about him carrying some mystery girl up to his apartment. He rolled his eyes and opened his door.

It was pretty small and beat up, but hey, it was home to him. It was still under his mother's name so that he wouldn't be bothered about living alone while he was underage.

He placed Fatima down gently on his couch and went to find a blanket. When he finally found one he came back, slipped off her sneakers, and covered her up. Without thinking, he brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and noticed that her cheeks had very light freckles on them. He frowned at the red line that still adorned her left cheek from their Save the Citizen match earlier that day. He didn't think that it was right to mess with a girl's face, but then again, he supposed that most guys nowadays didn't have any chivalry. He sighed and went into his room to read. He'd let her sleep a while longer.

-----

Fatima woke with a start. She looked around and didn't recognize anything. She pushed the blanket off of her and swung her feet around to the floor only to discover that her shoes had been removed. Looking around a little more, she found that they were sitting next to her book bag to one side of the couch that she was on. She had been studying at the Paper Lantern, and now she was in someone's apartment. Okaay…

She wondered what time it was as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stood. She pulled the ties out of her hair and slowly undid her braids as she walked around.

The living room was small and simple. A couch along the back wall, and 2 chairs in front of a TV that was set up on a crate. To her right was a kitchen, and to her left was a closed door. She couldn't see anything out of the windows except darkness. She walked over and saw that she was about three stories off the ground. She heard a door open and turned, wondering what she would see.

"Warren!" she exclaimed, surprised at his sudden appearance.

"Hey," he said and walked over to the kitchen. "Do you want a drink?" He opened the fridge. She nodded and he got out two cans of soda and handed her one.

"So… what happened?" Fatima asked, still half-asleep. Warren sat down in a chair and opened his can.

"You fell asleep. It's no wonder with all that work they've got you doing. I figured I'd let you sleep a while."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to be an inconvenience," she said, sitting down in the other chair sideways, draping her legs over one of the armrests. "So, this is your place?" He nodded. "But uh… how did I…" she sort of trailed off.

"Don't worry, you weren't too heavy," he said, grinning at the flustered look on her face.

"Does that mean you… I, uh… what do you… umm," she stuttered helplessly. Warren couldn't help himself. He laughed. Fatima blinked at him, the sound being unfamiliar coming from the pyro. She folded her arms in front of her and looked away.

"Well I never," she said and kicked one of his armrests. This only made Warren laugh harder. It was just one of those moments, and Fatima smiled, pleased that she'd gotten him to laugh so much. She wiggled one of her fingers above her soda, causing it to open. She drank half of it straight down before the bubbles got to her nose. She cringed a little and made a squeaking sound as her eyes watered a bit. She opened them back up and saw that Warren was looking at her. She fiddled with the tab on the can.

"So, why did you choose to go to Sky High after you'd missed your first year?" he asked. "If you knew it was going to be so much work, why bother?" Fatima looked away from him, letting her hair fall over part of her face.

"I, I didn't choose," she said softly.

"So your parents made you or something?" he asked.

"Don't have parents," she replied simply. He blinked at her. She decided to keep going.

"I've had my powers since I was little, but I always kept them secret. I was afraid of getting carted away for study or something." She swung her legs down, facing front so her face was completely obscured from his view. "I was living with my foster parents, Mary and Curtis. There was a fire… their daughter was trapped. I used my powers to save her. Somebody saw. Somebody told. Eventually it got to none other than Principle Powers herself." There was now a bitter note in her voice, but she pressed on. "She came to visit me and told me that she wanted me to go to her school. We would have to move, but I was excited. Until she told my foster parents about it." She shuttered a little. "I could see it in their eyes. They feared me because I was different. They thought I was some sort of freak. They said that moving was 'out of the question.' Next day my social worker came by saying that the state wished to relocate me so I would have the 'wonderful opportunity' to attend Powers' school. Of course I had to go along with it, the government basically owns me. So now I'm stuck in one of the worst foster situations I've ever been in, all because of Powers." She was holding back tears at this point.

"Well if you're last foster parents thought you were a freak because of your powers, then I don't think that they deserved you," Warren said, taken aback slightly by her outpour. She stood quickly and turned her back on him.

"You don't understand!" She hugged her arms around herself. "They, they were going to adopt me!" she finally blurted. "I was going to have real parents…" her voice drifted away and a silence fell over the room. Warren looked up at her after a moment and noticed that her shoulders were shaking, and her hands kept moving to her face now and then. It takes years of misery to learn how to cry so silently, he thought as he stood and approached her.

Fatima jumped a little when she felt his warm hands grip her shoulders. He turned her around and lifted her chin up and she finally met his gaze. Her face was tearstained and her eyes were bloodshot. She sniffled a little, trying not to sob out loud.

"I'm sorry," she managed to get out. "I guess I've just been holding all this in for a while now."

"It's not your fault," he said simply and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Fatima gave in and buried her face in his chest, sobbing. After a few minutes she settled down and was able to breathe normally again.

"Everyone's family has their issues," Warren said after a while. "My father…" he started, but paused as if it was difficult for him. "He was thrown in jail by my best friend's father." Fatima looked up at him. "He's a super villain."

"And your mom was a super hero," she said. He looked at her with a surprised look. "War and Peace," she said with a little smile. She hugged him. He had obviously been dealing with this for a while; no words of comfort were needed. Now, with everything out on the table, it didn't matter that they had just met; all that mattered was that they were both there for each other, right there in that moment.

"Oh, what time is it?" Fatima said, breaking their respective trances. They took a step away from each other and Warren glanced at a clock on the microwave in the kitchen.

"Nearly eleven-thirty. You need to get going?" he said casually. "I can give you a ride." She smiled at the offer.

"That's ok. It's late enough that I can fly and I won't be seen," she swung her book bag over a shoulder and opened one of the windows. She stepped out, but quickly peeked back in.

"Thanks, for everything," she said. He nodded and she was tempted to give him a kiss on the cheek, but quickly decided not to. She withdrew from the window once again and began her flight home. She had been too distracted to notice the slight rumble in the distance, or the dark clouds rolling in until it was too late. Her skin tingled with the charge that was in the air and her flight faltered a little. She looked up at the sky with wide eyes. Oh crap. She tried to make her way down to the ground as quickly and safely as she could, but as the first few drops of rain fell, her powers failed and she was plummeting down towards the street.

Warren had just closed his window and was walking back to his room when he heard a scream and a thud. He walked back over to the window and saw a crumpled-looking Fatima lying in the middle of the street in front of his building. Not stopping to wonder what had happened, he grabbed his jacket and an umbrella and ran down the stairs. By the time he got to her, it was raining pretty hard. He leaned over her and was glad to see that she was still breathing.

God, that sucked so much, Fatima thought and turned over only to discover Warren leaning over her, holding an umbrella over them both.

"Well, so much for my dramatic exit," she said and smiled, trying to lighten the mood as he gave her a hand up.

"Are you ok?" he asked. She tried to take a step but stumbled a little. She couldn't put weight on her right foot.

"I think I sprained my ankle," she said miserably and he supported her as they made their way back towards the building.

"Come on, get in," he said after he'd led her over to his car. They both scooted in and Fatima told him where she lived. She shivered a little. After all, she had been lying out in the rain for a while.

"It may be a piece of junk, but its got heat," he said and turned the heater on for her. She smiled and put her hands directly in front of one of the vents.

"At least you have a car," she said. "Sure I can fly, but only when no one's around. Otherwise I have to rely on public transportation."

"So, what happened anyways? Why did you fall like that?" he asked when they were halfway there.

"I'm not too sure on the specifics, but during a thunderstorm the air is charged differently, and it's a little difficult to control. I'm getting better at it though," she said with a slight smile. "Used to be that if a storm was within' a few miles my powers would stop working."

The ride wasn't too long, and Fatima had managed to warm up by the time he pulled up to the curb in front of the large white house.

"Nice house," he commented as he helped her hobble up to the front door.

"Yeah, it'd be nice if there wasn't 12 of us living here," she commented, reaching for the knob. But before she could touch it, the door burst open, revealing a woman in her late 30's who was wearing a purple wig and way too much make up. Her clothes and jewelry made her look like a prostitute.

"Hey Tima, late night?" the woman asked in a nasally voice and grinned at the two of them.

"Hi Candace," she said with a fake smile. "This is Warren, he goes to my school. He was just giving me a ride home after a study group." It didn't matter what she said really, she already knew what Candace thought, what with him still helping her to stand it looked like he had being doing more than giving her a ride. Candace's grin grew a little wider as if reading her thoughts.

"Well, don't let me keep you," she said and walked away to her car and sped off.

"Yeah, that's my foster mother for you," Fatima said dryly and opened the front door. "Thanks again," she said and hopped inside. They said goodbye and Fatima watched as Warren's car disappeared down her street. She managed to hobble up the stairs and finally threw herself into bed. As she felt sleep pulling her into its embrace, she couldn't decide whether today had been the best or worst day ever.


	5. Truth or Dare?

**OMG, finally here's the next chapter! I apologize for it taking so long, but my mom and I got the box set of LOST on Tuesday, and didn't do anything else but watch them 'til we were done yesterday. It's just so addicting! Well, I hope you like this chappie, it's a little fluffier than usual, but I thought the idea was cute.**

The next day in school seemed like any other. Fatima's ankle didn't hinder her in any way; all she did was hover and glide around the halls and no one gave her a second glance. For the first time, she was glad that she was in a high school for super heroes. She sighed and went around her classes as usual.

As she paid for her lunch she glanced over and saw that Warren was already sitting at his usual table, reading a book like always. As she approached, she noticed an empty table a little further on. She debated on what to do, but finally decided to go for the empty table, not wanting to push her luck with Warren. As she passed by him, he stopped her with a word.

"Hey," he said, and she turned to look at him. He was still reading his book. "I don't need the whole table you know." Fatima smiled and started to make her way towards the opposite end of the table.

"Fatima." She stopped in her tracks. That was the first time that he had called her by her name. She turned again, and this time pail eyes met dark ones. He pointed to the bench in front of him wordlessly. She made her way back over and sat in front of the flamethrower. They spent the rest of lunch in silence, in which Fatima was able to hear people whispering around her. It had started as soon as her butt had hit her seat. Just great, now everyone's going to think that something's going on between us. Whatever, their ignorance I guess, she supposed and pulled out a textbook.

Sure enough, by the end of the week, rumors spread like wildfire about Warren's new lunch-partner. People were even approaching her in the halls and asking her questions about it. She tried her best just to smile nicely and run away. The most uncomfortable encounter stuck out in her mind.

She had stopped off at her locker on her way to lunch when she felt the shift in the air to her left. She glanced over and saw none other than Legs leaning against the lockers next to her, a sly look on his face.

"Hey there gorgeous," he said, making her cringe. That had to be the worst line in the book.

"Hi Legs," she replied casually, trying to figure out what books she needed so that she could get out of there.

"Hey, call me Johnny," he said and she looked back over at him. She guessed that she was supposed to be swooning by this point according to the look on his face. He wasn't that bad looking actually. He had longish brown hair brought back in a ponytail except for two parts in front that hung free and were dyed green. Fatima glanced over his shoulder and saw Whip standing a few feet away, his dark hair up in their usual spikes and his green eyes narrowing at her. She looked back to Legs who was talking again.

"So, that was a pretty awesome display in Save the Citizen the other day," he said, his gray eyes seeking hers. She wondered why he would compliment her on an activity during which she sent him into a crater in the gym floor, but then again, she really didn't understand guys sometimes. She decided to remain silent.

"So, you gonna' sit with us today?" he said, leaning a little closer. Fatima stuffed all the books she needed into her bag and closed her locker.

"Oh sorry, I usually-," she started and turned but stopped when he backed her up against the lockers. He put his arms on the lockers on either side of her, cutting off her only escape routes.

"Everyone's seen you with Peace. They've seen the way you two look at each other. What do you see in that guy?" he asked, eyes flashing.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Fatima said, trying to duck under one of his arms but was thwarted. He leaned a little closer, making her panic a little. She was ready to use her powers if he tried anything.

"Well, if there's nothing going on…" he trailed off and leaned in. Before Fatima could blast him back, he pulled away with his shirt on fire. As he danced around trying to put it out, Fatima saw Warren standing behind him, a hand still flaming. He looked to her and extinguished the flame. He then reached over and took her hand firmly.

"Come on, we wouldn't want to miss lunch," he said, loud enough for Legs to hear, and with a smirk he knew Legs could see. And with that, he strode down the hall with Fatima in tow; she practically had to jog to keep up. Legs growled after them as Whip helped put out the smoldering remnants of his shirt.

"Warren, slow down! My legs are a lot shorter than yours!" Fatima complained when he wouldn't slow down. After a while he did and she was able to catch her breath.

"You know… you didn't have to come to my rescue. I could've handled those guys," she said, watching his face for a reaction. "But thanks." He looked over and smiled.

"I know you can take care of yourself, but don't let him get that close next time," he said as they entered the lunchroom and he casually dropped her hand.

_Believe me, I wont_, she thought to herself and entered with him.

-----

A week later, Fatima had gotten into a nice routine that got her through each day. But of course, wouldn't you know it? As she walked out of the school after last period it was raining. A slew of expletives streamed out of her mouth as she made her way over to her backup plan… a bus. She was literally growling by the time she stepped aboard, and scared the driver half to death. Relieved to see that she was one of the first people to arrive, she walked quickly to the back and sat down, wishing that she could be home already.

As students filed onto the bus, they finally got underway, and Fatima had a red head sitting next to her. She was chatting happily with everyone around her in a peppy voice that Fatima tried to ignore, but couldn't. After their seatbelts were in place the redhead turned to her.

"Hi, you haven't been on the bus before," she said and stuck out her hand. "I'm Layla."

"Fatima," she stated and shook her hand, brushing a piece of hair out of her eyes. A look of recognition came over her face.

"Hey! You're that girl that Warren hangs out with right?" she asked. Fatima rolled her eyes. Great, another one.

"Look, we're just friends, we are not dating, and anything you want to know about him you'll have to find out for yourself," she said, leaning her forehead against the window, watching the stormy clouds roll around them. Layla almost laughed at her remark.

"Oh no, that's not why I asked. See, I'm a friend of his, and I wanted to meet you since we have a mutual friend," she said and Fatima looked back at her skeptically.

"You're a friend of Warren?"

"Sure, we all are," she said and a few people around them turned and waved. "This is Zack, Ethan, Magenta, and Will," she said, pointing to each in introduction. "Will is Warren's best friend."

"So it was your dad who put his in jail," Fatima said, killing all conversation. She turned back to the window and was thankful to see the ground approaching. As she got off and limped into her house—her ankle still bothering her a little—she felt slightly bad about how abrupt she had been. After all, they were Warren's friends… or so they claimed. But then again, that girl had seemed sincere, and whoever said that they were Warren Peace's friends and weren't telling the truth ran the risk of being barbequed. She smiled.

-----

A month later… Fatima heard the phone ring.

"Hello?" she asked, baby Justin balanced on one hip. Out of the receiver came the familiar voice of Warren Peace.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asked after his greeting. "We still studying together today?"

"Your floor is being fumigated? Oh… uh, did you want to come over here then?"

"Okay, see you at six then." Click. Justin started fussing and she hugged and soothed him. "Oh come on, you've met Warren before. He's not that bad." Justin made a face and Fatima laughed.

-----

Warren slowly made his way up to Fatima's front door, hoping that she wasn't going to be too mad at him. He knocked and waited. He was expecting a lot of things, but not what he was about to see.

Fatima opened the door wearing a pair of jean short shorts, and a lacey spaghetti strap shirt that was too small for her. Her hair was up in a sloppy bun and she had Justin balanced on her left hip.

"Warren!" she exclaimed. "You're early! Is something wrong?" She tried to ignore the fact that she was dressed so scantly in front of him. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Well," he started, looking away. "I ran into a friend of mine, Layla, on the way over, and since she needed to study too she sort of invited herself along." He glanced over to check her reaction.

"Oh, redhead right? I met her the other day, it's fine," Fatima replied.

"Uh, well that's not all really." He paused and Fatima looked at him expectantly. He sighed and continued. "She had been planning on studying with some other people, so it's not just her. One person called another and so…" Fatima looked over his shoulder and saw that his car was full of people.

"So you brought everyone you know to my house!" she said, exasperated. She rubbed her forehead. "Fine, but you owe me mister," she pointed a finger at him. "Just, let me get a shirt on." she started toward the stairs but stopped. "Here, take him and put them in the living room." She handed Justin to Warren who held him uncertainly. He looked down at the kid who blew a spit bubble and giggled.

"You can say that again," he said and went to retrieve everyone who was waiting in his car.

Fatima made her way downstairs having changed into a black T-shirt. As she stepped into the living room, she saw Warren, Layla, and everyone that she had tried to introduce on the bus sitting on the couch and chairs, waiting for her. She walked over and relieved Justin from Warren.

"Hi Fatima," Layla said. "Sorry for imposing on you like this, but I figured that since we all needed to study, we'd be able to do it together, and get to know each other too." Her smile was infectious. Fatima sat down and Layla re-introduced everyone.

"Um… well, not to sound offensive," Fatima said after a pause. "But, aren't you all, you know… hero support?" Most of them nodded. "Then…"

"How are we supposed to study together?" Magenta, the goth girl with purple highlights finished for her.

"Well, hero support needs to know how their heroes think so that we can help better, so we learn a lot of the same things," Ethan, the boy who could melt, said.

"Oh, that makes sense," Fatima said.

-----

After a few hours, they were all stuffed with information.

"If I see another definition, I'll puke," Zack complained. Everyone groaned in agreement.

"So I guess we're done for the day?" Will asked and everyone started gathering their books together.

"Hey, while we're all together, do you guys want to do something?" Layla suggested.

"Hey, they just got some new games in at the arcade in the mall," Zack said enthusiastically. Fatima looked around nervously as they all started nodding in agreement. She picked up Justin and stood.

"I don't think that I can go," she said and everyone turned towards her, surprised.

"Why not?" Layla asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Warren wanted to know.

"Well, I can't leave the kids alone, someone's got to watch them," she said. "Sorry, I couldn't possibly go."

"Of course you can." Everyone turned to see an older girl with curly black hair standing by the front door. She walked over to Fatima who was trying not to scowl.

"Gina, I thought you were working late tonight," she said through gritted teeth. The older girl relieved the infant from her with a smile.

"No, I have the night off, remember? So now you can go out with your friends and don't have to worry."

"I don't want to make you take care of them all. I should stay to help." She tried to take Justin back, but Gina stepped away swiftly and grinned even bigger.

"Oh come on, you know that the twins are spending the night at Erin's house. Greg is on a field trip. Madison and Elise are at a slumber party. That just leaves me with Eduardo, Rachel, and little Justin here. Nothing I can't handle. Now go," she gave the super teen an enthusiastic push towards the door.

"Just… let me get my jacket," Fatima said and ran up the stairs. After a second, Warren went up after her. He found her sitting on the end of her bed, her head in her hands. She looked up at him as soon as he stepped closer.

"What's the matter?" he asked, leaning against her desk. She gave a weak smile.

"I know it's probably obvious, but I've never really had any friends before." She looked away from him. "And now suddenly I have a crowd of them it seems… it's a little overwhelming."

"Well, there's no complaining now because once this group attaches itself to you, and they have, there's nothing you can do to get rid of them. Believe me," Warren said. Fatima laughed a little.

"So that's how it happened," she said, grinning at him. "I always wondered how you became friends with a bunch like them." She stood and picked up a jean jacket and put it on.

"Well, if I have no choice in the matter, then we might as well get to it," she said and they made their way back downstairs and out the door. Everyone was standing by Warren's car.

"Come on, get in already," Warren said as they approached.

"Well, there's a slight, uh…" Zack started.

"There's not enough room," Magenta interjected. "There's six seats and seven people."

"We can strap the popsicle to the roof, no problem," Warren said, making Ethan's eyes bug out. Fatima smacked Warren's arm lightly.

"Or Layla could just sit in Will's lap," she said. Everyone piled in and they began the drive to the mall.

"So, where is the mall anyway?" Warren asked after a while, glancing sidelong at the others in the car with him.

"You mean you don't know where you're going?" Will said. Warren shot him a look. People started trying to direct Warren where to go, but he was getting conflicting instructions. If he would turn one way, people would object. Turn the other way, everyone else would object. He gripped the steering wheel harder and did another U-turn. Fatima leaned forward in her seat behind him.

"You doing ok?" she asked, looking him over. His eye twitched a little and it looked like he was just about to break the steering wheel into pieces.

"Let's just say I'm real close to frying everyone in this car," he said. Fatima patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"Hey everyone!" she said, getting their attention. "Since none of us seem to know how exactly to get to the mall, if indeed there is one at all… do you guys want to just go back to my house and hang out?" Everyone agreed and soon they were making their way back to Fatima's house by way of a convenient store—they needed supplies after all. Shortly after they all were walking back into Fatima's living room with arms full of soda and chips. People called their parents to let them know where they'd be so they wouldn't worry… or form search parties.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Zack asked after they had been snacking and talking for a while. The sun had just set and the sky was being lit by its last few beams of light. Everyone thought of what they could do, play board games, watch a movie, play cards, prank calls… but it was Magenta who finally spoke up.

"Well, we're a bunch of teenagers sitting around on a Saturday night. It's obvious what we should do. Let's play spin the bottle." Everyone gaped at her. She was definitely the last person they would have expected to make such a suggestion.

"I guess that'd be fun," Layla chimed in. They all agreed and moved the coffee table out of the way and sat down on the carpet in a circle. They placed an empty soda bottle in the middle.

"So… who goes first?" Ethan asked.

"Well, it was Magenta's idea after all," Fatima said and grinned at the look she got from the goth.

"Fine, I'll go first," she said and spun the bottle. It spun once then rolled into her shoe. She tried again but it kept on rolling away.

"Uh, this isn't working." She picked up the bottle. "Any ideas?"

"Hold on," Fatima said and ran over to a closet and began rifling through board games until she finally appeared again and held up the spinner from Twister.

"Ta-da!" she plopped it down in the middle of the circle. Magenta gave it a spin and it landed on Ethan. She rolled her eyes and gave the dork a quick peck. A bit flustered, he spun the spinner and it landed on Will. Everyone burst into laughter and the two grudgingly kissed. Will tried not to spin it too hard—he didn't want to break it—and was very relieved when it landed on Layla. The couple kissed happily. Layla leaned over and flicked the spinner and Fatima watched in horror as it spun and slowly came to rest, pointing to her. She looked up at Layla who shrugged and smiled.

"Uh, I'm going to get a soda, anyone want one?" Fatima said quickly and practically ran into the kitchen and out of sight. She leaned up against one of the counters and cursed herself. She could hear everyone talking, yelling at her to come back, asking why she had run away. What was her problem? Why couldn't she have just gone through with it?

"So, what's taking those sodas so long?" she heard a voice from behind her say. She turned and saw Warren standing there. Fatima opened the fridge and handed him a soda and took another out for herself. She leaned back against the counter and looked at the floor.

"It's not that I don't want to play," she said. "I really do, honest. It's just…" she tried to explain, but looked away, embarrassed. Warren stepped up to her.

"You don't want your first kiss to be with a girl," he said. Fatima looked up at him, surprised.

"Silly right?" she asked, blushing a little. She looked away but he hooked a finger under her chin and brought her gaze back to his.

"Not at all," he said, and in an out of character but just can't help himself moment, he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Fatima blinked. Had he just… but he was already stepping away.

"Come on, if I have to kiss Stronghold then you can kiss the flower child," he said as he walked back into the living room. Fatima followed shortly, trying to busy herself with handing out sodas, while trying to get rid of the blush in her cheeks. After that she had no problem with playing and they all had a blast.

-----

"Ok, that's the third time I've kissed Will, anyone want to play something else?" Zack asked. They had been playing for a while and everyone had kissed just about everyone else more than once.

"Hey, you guys want to play Truth or Dare?" Fatima asked with a grin.

"Well, since you're so confident all of a sudden then why don't you start us out?" Will said. "Truth or Dare Fatima?" She scowled at the super strong teen and folded her arms in front of her.

"Truth," she replied.

"What's your middle name?"

"Oh you suck!"

"Well?"

"…"

"What was that? You'll have to speak up."

"I said it's Minnie!" She threw some popcorn at him while they all laughed. She looked around the room, trying to decide who her victim would be.

"Zack! Truth or Dare?" she said, surprising everyone. The glow stick debated for a second before replying.

"Truth." Fatima smiled.

"Is it true that you have a crush on Magenta?" Zack blushed and looked away while fumbling for words. Magenta looked over at him, curious.

"Yeah, sort of…" he managed to get out. "Will, Truth or Dare?" he tried to change the subject quickly.

"Dare," he said and everyone oohed.

-----

An hour later they were still at it. Ethan was wearing a pink dress that they had managed to find, Layla had just got done with her rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, of which she only knew half the words, Zack had done the hula while standing on the coffee table, Warren was shirtless and scowling, and Magenta was staring daggers at Layla. She had been dared to dance around in guinea pig form and sing a cute little song.

Fatima sat down after she had gotten done. Ethan had dared her to dance around in a bikini, but she knew that it'd been Will's idea, the pervert. She shivered.

"Dude, can I change back now? I'm freezing my butt off," she said accusingly at Ethan. He looked at his watch.

"In a half hour you can." Fatima growled.

"Fine! Will, truth or dare?" He thought for a second.

"Dare." Fatima smirked.

"I dare you to give Ethan a lap dance." The living room erupted with laughter.

"No way! I pass!" Will demanded.

"Really? I thought you would have enjoyed it because some of those kisses looked pretty hot and ow!" A can of soda bounced off Fatima's head. "Fine fine, but that's your last pass mister." Will sat back and thought for a second, then leaned over and conversed silently with Layla who nodded her head with a smile.

"Warren, truth or dare?" The flamethrower had been wearing a look that said, 'If anyone else makes me take something off I'll roast them alive,' ever since Layla had dared him to go shirtless for the rest of the night.

"Dare," he said. Will smiled.

"I dare you to hold hands with Fatima for the rest of the night," he said. Smoke began to rise from under Warren's hands.

"What about bathroom breaks?" he asked. Will considered for a second.

"Two minutes each should do it," he replied. Warren looked over at Fatima who was trying very hard to blend in with the carpet. "Well get over here," he said and held out a hand. She walked over and took the offered appendage and sat on the couch next to him.

"We have got to get Will back for all this," she muttered under her breath at him.

"You're tellin' me," he agreed.

-----

A half hour later, Warren and Fatima were given a two-minute break so that she could go upstairs and change. She was walking back out of her room, infinitely glad to be properly dressed once again, when she saw the face of a four year old peeking out of a door down the hall. She walked over and opened the door and saw little Rachel in her jammies clutching a teddy bear.

"Oh, baby, did you have a bad dream?" The little girl nodded. Fatima led the girl back into her room to put her back to bed.

"Ok, it's been more than two minutes," Will said, looking at his watch. "Go get her Warren." They all watched semi-amused, and semi-scared as the pyro stood and stalked up the stairs. But when he reached the top, he stopped and listened. He heard singing… very soft, but it was there.

"_Wishing on a dream that seems far off  
Hoping it will come today  
Into the starlit night  
Foolish dreamers turn their gaze  
Waiting on a shooting star"_

Warren stepped down the hall carefully until he reached the door where the singing was coming from. He peered in and saw Fatima sitting beside a little girl's bed singing her to sleep.

"_But, what if that star is not to come?  
Will their dreams fade to nothing?  
When the horizon darkens most  
Well all need to believe there is hope_

_Is an angel watching closely over me?  
Can here be a guiding light I've yet to see?  
I know my heart should guide me but  
There's a hole within my soul  
_

_What will fill this emptiness inside of me?  
Am I to be satisfied without knowing?  
I wish then for a chance to see  
Now all I need  
Is my star to come…"_

Fatima smoothed a curly piece of blonde hair out of the girl's face. She was asleep already. Smiling, she turned only to see Warren Peace standing in the doorway. Why on earth Layla had made him take off his shirt was beyond her, but he was a sight to behold. Fatima stopped her train of thought and exited the room, shutting the door behind her quietly.

"What are you doing up here?" she asked as they made their way back to the stairs. He took her hand.

"Will sent me up after you. Said it'd been more than two minutes," he replied.

"Rachel has nightmares sometimes. It's her favorite song; it helps her sleep." They began to descend together.

"You sing it well," he said, not able to think of a better way to say it. She glanced over at him and smiled a little.

"Thanks." They walked back into the living room and sat with the others.

-----

"I dare you to not use any of your powers for a week."

"What!" Will couldn't believe what Fatima was trying to make him do.

"Ah ah ah!" she waggled a finger at him. "You already used all your passes Mr. Stronghold. You have to do it!" She laughed with everyone else as they all laughed.

"An entire week?"

"Ok, I'll be nice. The school week. Monday through Friday. Five days, no powers."

"Oh you're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Immensely."

-----

**The song is Wind's Nocturne. If anyone know's who it's by please tell me so I can give the proper credit. **


	6. Clippings

**Yahoo! I finally got a job and had my first shift today, and boy do my feet hurt. But that just gave me time to lounge around and write this chapter for you all!**_  
_

_  
What in the hell did I kiss her for?_ Warren ran the question over again in his head for the millionth time since Saturday. _She's just so cute an innocent sometimes_… Warren mentally slapped himself… again. _Get a grip man!_ He ran a hand through his hair and glanced to his left where she was sitting next to him, working carefully to assemble whatever it was that Mr. Medulla had assigned them. A piece of shimmering hair fell across her eyes and he had to resist the urge to tuck it back behind her ear. He folded his arms across his chest and looked out the window to distract himself.

It made him smile to see her happy as she became part of the group. There was always a smile on her face now it seemed. But even though she had been given an open invitation to sit at lunch with Will and co. she always opted to sit and have a silent lunch with Warren. Sometimes she would ask a question about her work, which he never knew the answers to, and other times she would comment about other things, but she never mentioned the kiss. She never asked about it, for which he was infinitely glad since he didn't know why he had done it himself.

She was just so… different from the rest of the group. He still felt that connection that they had made that night in the paper lantern. Though she seemed to be a lot happier than before, he still caught her pulling towards the back of the group sometimes, or looking into the distance with a sad face.

Was it against the rules to have two loners in the same group of friends? He didn't remember seeing a rule against it in the manual, but then again, he had only skimmed through it himself.

-----

"Hey! Coach Boomer, over here!" Fatima said loudly, getting the gym teacher's attention during a Save the Citizen day. "Will has just been dying to play today," she said with an evil grin on her face.

"What are you doing?" Will demanded.

"Having a little fun," came her reply.

"How am I supposed to stand a chance without my powers?" he said incredulously.

"Stronghold! Suit up!" Boomer yelled at the teen.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll manage somehow," she said and patted him on the back. "Hurry now, you don't want to be late." Will reluctantly made his way down the bleachers to gear up for what he was expecting to be the worst Save the Citizen match of his life.

Warren grinned as he watched Stronghold stomping down towards the Save the Citizen ring. Why hadn't he thought of that himself? he wondered as he leaned against the back wall with his arms crossed in his typical don't-mess-with-me pose. His eyes flitted over to Fatima who was a couple of rows down. She and Layla were talking with each other and giggling. She stopped and glanced back to where he was for a second. She grinned at the look of approval on his face and turned back to Layla. Warren ran a hand through his hair and tried to work things out in his head again. Maybe she hadn't even given it a second thought… she hadn't wanted her first kiss to be with a girl, and he had just helped her so that she could play. Could that really be all there was to it? He supposed that if she didn't want to say anything about it, then she wasn't thinking about it, so he should do the same and quit driving himself crazy trying to analyze it.

-----

_God, I'm going crazy trying to figure out that kiss!_ Fatima thought to herself as she made her way through the halls. _He hasn't mentioned it once, not once! Did it not mean anything? Was he just trying to get me to play with the rest of them? But why would he want to play so badly?_ Maybe he had a crush on one of the other girls, she thought. _Ok, I'm really over-analyzing this_, she thought as she pushed open the doors to the library. _Besides, I've already got enough on my mind right now_…

-----

Warren had expected to feel the slight jostle that he felt every day when Fatima sat down in front of him at his lunch table. He looked up from his book and checked a clock on the wall. Lunch was halfway over and there was no sign of her. He was just about to start wondering where she could be when the lunchroom doors burst open and in came a frazzled, but excited-looking Fatima. She ran directly over to him and started pulling him out of his seat and back towards the doors.

"Come on! Come ON!" she said excitedly, not caring that everyone in the lunchroom was now staring at them. It wasn't until they were in the hall that he pulled back. She turned towards him with a confused look.

"What's this about Fatima? Why are you acting so weird?" he asked. She gripped his shoulders and shook him a little.

"I found them Warren. I found them. There isn't a second to waste, you've got to see!" she said and before he knew it, she was pulling him into the library and back to the archives room. She sat down at a computer and started typing.

"At first I was looking out there for them, but no luck at all. Turns out I was looking in the wrong place. As soon as I got in here I was able to find out all sorts of stuff about them!" she said, practically bubbling over. Warren spun her chair around so she was facing him and gripped her shoulders. She looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Fatima, what are you talking about?" he said firmly. "Who did you find?" He expression softened and her voice was almost a whisper.

"My parents," she said. "My real parents." She turned and clicked the mouse and brought up an old newspaper. He looked at the screen and almost gasped. The headline said, 'HERO IS GIVEN CITY KEY AFTER SAVING DOZENS IN DOWNTOWN FIRE.' The article was from a paper that was printed in a town called Trent, and the woman in the picture was accepting a golden key from a rather round-looking mayor. Warren simply stared. The woman could not have been older than 20, and she looked almost exactly like Fatima. She was even wearing the same outfit, although she had on a matching jacket and cape. Everything was so similar, except for the hair, and upon closer inspection, the eyes. Her hair was short, black, and full of curls, and her eyes were a fiery red. He looked back and forth from the picture to the girl sitting in front of him.

"That's my mom," she said with a smile that he had never seen before. "Her name was Soline Evans, but her hero name was Inferno." She turned to Warren with a grin. "She was a pyro just like you. Look, you can see my dad, right over there." She pointed to a young man standing next to the mayor's side with a few other councilmen. He was tall and thin, and though he looked to be in his early 20's, his hair was as white as snow and fell into his eyes in a disshelved manner.

"This is when they first met," she said and began pulling up other articles. "They got married a few years later and teamed up on a top secret science study. They were both killed in an explosion in the lab one day, while mom was pregnant with me," her voice trailed off and Warren looked over the article.

…_sources say that the mysterious lab explosion that killed 6 scientists has been deemed an accident. Though the police chief viewed the incident as suspicious at first, he now insists that the explosion was a result of a simple gas leak that had gone unchecked. Among those killed was Soline Moore, a woman who was almost nine months pregnant with a baby girl. An emergency cesarean was performed to save the child, and she is now at Central Regional Hospital in the NICU in stable condition. As soon as she is released she will be placed in foster care until a relative can be found. Moore's husband, Jack Moore, was also killed in the tragic explosion. He was one of the leading scientific minds of the_… Warren stopped reading and looked to Fatima. Her face was unreadable. He didn't know weather to hug her or be happy for her. She turned to face him.

"Fatima?" he ventured.

"I'm ok," she said, then to his surprise, she laughed a little. "I finally know who they are! I can't believe I finally found them!" she squealed and tackle-hugged Warren, knocking them both to the floor. She realized perfectly well that she was lying on top of him, but she was just too happy to bother being embarrassed.

"You two! What do you think you're doing?" a shrill voice said and they looked up to see Ms. Readman, the school librarian, standing in the doorway tapping her foot impatiently.

Ok, now she could be embarrassed.

-----

The archive room remained quiet for some time after the two teens left, escorted by the librarian. Then, out of the shadows stepped a figure shrouded in darkness itself it seemed. Golden eyes shone out from under a dark hood that hid features. A mechanical arm reached out and brushed against the computer monitor that had been left on.

"So, been looking up the family have we?" a masculine voice said as the figure looked at the article about Fatima's parents. "Could you be looking for the other?" The arm waved over the computer, which let out a few sparks and shut down, making unhealthy whirring noises. "That, I cannot allow." And with that, the figure stepped back into the shadows and faded away.

**Bwa-ha-ha! Bet you didn't expect to see a baddie in this story did ya? Kee hee, anyways. I don't know when I'll have the next chapter, because honestly I can't think of any other funny things to do with the week that Will can't use his powers. That was the only one I had, and I'd feel bad just leaving it as that. So, if anyone has an ideas, they would be welcome!  
**


	7. The Test

**OMG! I'm back people! I bet you thought that I'd never write another chappie did you? Well, don't worry, I didn't forget about you. Work is just very time consuming, but I'm finally used to it, and I'm enjoying life alot more now that I have a car, WOO! True, it's a junker, but it goes fast and it gets from point A to point B without blowing up so it's all good. **

**Now that I have the hang of this work thing now I'm going to be making a big effort to keep updating as fast as I can for you all. And I am really sorry that I made you guys wait so long.**

A woman in a smart, yet elegant business suit made her way swiftly down the crowded city streets, her stiletto heels making clicking sounds as they hit the pavement. Men gawked at her and women stared in jealousy as she walked with purpose, ignoring them all. Coming to a back alley she found her way to a hidden door and into to the room beyond.

Lit only by a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, she saw a dark figure on the other side of the room. Damn, he always made it there before her. As she approached, she felt waves of power rolling off him, making her skin tingle.

"Katianna, why are you obsessed with their forms when ours is so superior?" came the ridiculously deep voice of the man in front of her, light glinting off his mechanical arm. She laughed a little.

"Well Alexius, if we walked around in our true forms then we wouldn't be able to accomplish our goals now would we?" she said and the form of the smart businesswoman melted away, leaving in her place a younger girl with short black hair that was up in spikes and was clad in tight form-fitting leather.

"And besides, it's fun," she grinned at him and pushed back his hood. "Here I am enjoying myself while you just chose your old form. Where's the fun in that?"

"Our job is not to have fun, but to only-"

"Fulfill our mission, I know." She gave a resigned sigh and took a step back. "So, what's next?"

"Infiltration. Observe but do not interact. I'll be in touch." And with that, a shadow swept around him and he was gone.

"Tsk, show off," she mumbled and walked out of the room and towards her new destination.

-----

Not that far away, Will Stronghold was glad that it was Friday. He took a step out his front door and fell flat on his face, remembering that he wasn't allowed to use his powers yet.

"Damn, just one more day and I'm done with this," he mumbled as he picked himself up off the sidewalk just in time to see the bus drive by. "Hey! Wait up!" he yelled as he took off after it. He would definitely have to get Fatima back for this.

"Hey hey, look who decided to join us," the white haired girl said when he finally made his way onto the bus. She could fly, but sometimes she liked to ride the bus so she could talk with the gang.

"Screw… you," he panted out and flopped down next to his girlfriend.

"Well that's not very nice," Fatima replied, folding her arms in front of her. "Besides, today's the last day and then you'll be home free."

"About freaking time," he said as the bus made it's usual jump into the air and took flight, heading towards Sky High.

-----

"First of all I would like to thank you for choosing our school to attend. We take pride in our excellence and I'm sure you'll fit right in here," principal Powers said to the transfer student who was standing in front of her. She had fiery red hair that was pulled into short pigtails and crystal blue eyes. She was wearing a blue logo T-shirt with gold writing on it, and baggy jeans with the same color trim. Adorning her head was a black sock hat whose rim had a pattern that looked like piano keys. A yellow star dangled from a white beaded bracelet around her left wrist as she accepted her schedule and looked it over.

"Now, we're just about to start the day so you'll be heading to your homeroom first. I hope you enjoy it here Katianna."

"I'm sure I will," she said with a smirk and walked off down the halls.

-----

"Hey, you ok?" Warren asked as Fatima looked behind her for the fifth time since they had started their walk to the cafeteria.

"Sorry, it's just…" she looked again, "I've felt like someone's been watching me all day now. It's got to be more than just paranoia."

"You're probably just anticipating Will's retaliation," he replied as they sat down at their table. "Because you know he's going to try something."

"I suppose you're right…" she said, not altogether convinced, but decided to try to think about something else.

-----

_Perhaps it's time we find out what she's capable of…_ Alexius' words ran through Katianna's head as she walked through the halls after he had contacted her. It was close to the end of the day before she found exactly what she needed.

Johnny Legs threw a freshmen into their locker and closed it while Whip stood close by, holding another freshmen upside down with one hand, and picking up the money falling to the floor with the other.

"Hi, are you Legs?" he heard a voice from behind him and turned to see a girl with fire red pigtails under a black sock hat. She had a shy look on her face.

"What's it to you?" he replied, cracking his knuckles in an intimidating manner.

"Well, I don't know if you've heard, but that Will Stronghold has been talking some real crap about you lately," she said innocently.

"Stronghold huh? What's he been saying?" Katianna smiled on the inside.

"Well…"

-----

"STRONGHOLD!"

Will and the rest of the gang turned to see what was going on. They had been walking outside toward the busses when they had heard the accusatory yell. They could now see Legs and Whip making their way towards them, knocking everyone out of their way forcefully.

"You think you can talk shit about me and get away with it?" Legs demanded. Zack patted Will on the shoulder.

"Good luck dude," he said and ran away towards his bus. Magenta and Ethan quickly followed, calling for him to wait up. Will looked at Fatima who was standing next to him.

"I suppose since the school day is technically over," she said in a resigned tone. "Go on then." Will approached Legs cautiously, not wanting to provoke an attack.

"You think you can just say anything you want and get away with it! Well you got another thing comin' Stronghold," Legs said, pushing him back a little ways.

"Hey man, I don't know what you're talking ab-," he started, but Legs jumped up and kicked him squarely in the chest with both feet, sending Will flying off the edge of the school. Warren powered up and Fatima stood at the ready. If these guys were looking for a fight, they could help entertain them as well.

Flames and wind and people were flying before anyone could blink. Fatima barely kept herself from slamming into the wall and smashed an air wall forcefully into Whip who had thrown her. He picked himself up and wrapped an arm around her waist securely and slammed her to the ground. Before she had a chance to retaliate however, a fireball came out of nowhere and knocked him off his feet. The arm around Fatima's waist loosened as two more were thrown. She looked up and saw that while Will was grappling with Legs, Warren had Whip by the collar and punched him squarely in the jaw, sending him reeling back. He ignited his arms and growled with a look in his eyes that she had never seen before. Just as he was about to attack with full force she saw principal Powers on the front steps of the school, making her way over to them swiftly.

"Warren, no!" Fatima yelled and snuffed his flames out a little too harshly, but it got the point across.

"Now what is going on here?" Powers demanded. Legs flew screaming through the air and landed with a thud in front of her. All eyes turned toward Will who had thrown him.

"Oops…" he said nervously, and gave a weak smile.

-----

"Hey, you ok?" Warren asked as he saw Fatima pause and place a hand on her chest. She looked over and smiled at him after taking a deep breath.

"Just a little out of breath, that's all," she waved it off. They all continued down the hall towards the detention room, led by principal Powers.

"I don't see why I get detention too, I wasn't even in the fight," Layla complained. "If I had been, at least I would have known when to quit." Everyone gave Will dirty looks.

"Speaking of which," Warren glanced sidelong at Fatima. "Thanks for the heads up, but you could have been a little more gentle." She shrugged.

"Sorry about that, in the heat of the moment you know… no pun intended."

"Hey, that reminds me," Will said. "How were you able to do that fire trick in your Save the Citizen match?" Everyone turned on her, curious for an answer.

"Well, it's actually pretty simple. See, when air is condensed enough, it becomes highly flammable. And as we've all seen I can do just about anything with air. Now, once I've manipulated the air enough, all I need is one spark and foom!" she made a dramatic hand gesture, "Instant flamethrower." She smiled. "But I have to be very careful once it's lit though. In theory I could cause a chain reaction that would burn up the atmosphere… and that would be bad." Everyone stood open-mouthed for a second before principal Powers spoke up.

"Quiet down and get in," she said sternly and they began to file inside the blindingly white room. "I'll decide your punishment later. For now just stay in there and think about what you've done. I expected more from some of you." And with that the door closed and she walked away down the hall.

"Well that's certainly not us," Legs said sarcastically as he and Whip sat down. Everyone glared at them.

"Hey, you're the ones who started all this," Will said. "Right Fatima?" he said but froze when he looked over at her. She was leaning up against the door with a hand against her chest, and a look of sheer pain on her face. Her legs started to buckle and Will went to catch her, but Warren was there in an instant, a look of worry on his face. Fatima looked around at everyone that was now crowded around her as she gasped for air, but her lungs felt like they were on fire. The edges of her vision were starting to blur and still she couldn't get any air in. The sounds of her friends pounding on the door and calling for help sounded far away as her world became darker. The last thing she saw was Warren telling her to hold on before everything went black.

**Bwa-ha-ha! Before you start fussing, I've already started the next chapter. And don't worry, I've still got a ways to go so I can't kill off the main character... yet. Haha, just kidding!dodges rocks being thrown**


	8. Kind Interlude

**Ok, I would really like to thank each and every one who has reviewed my story. Every day I get an encouraging remark and a plea to continue, and I've finally kicked myself in the pants and updated. It's not about me, I realized... it's about all of you. So thank you very much everyone. I continue now with a new enthusiasm and pledge to finish this to the best of my ability. So anyways, enough of that, let's see what happened to Fatima (though you already figured it out you smarties).**

**----- **

Warm... Fatima's mind stuttered back to life slowly. She heard people talking, but it was like she was underwater, nothing but distortion filling her head. Each system in her body seemed to be rebooting one at a time, keeping her in a literal darkness. But because of her connection with air she was soon able to determine where she was. Laying down on a bed, the room was smallish, and the door was open a crack. There were several figures in the room, the closest being Nurse Spex, the over-sized pair of spectacles being a dead giveaway. Ah, the infirmary. But what had happened? Fatima couldn't quite pull up that memory file so she decided to try to unclog her hearing first. It was going frustratingly slow, but she was making progress none the less.

"-don't understand what happened," a voice that sounded like Will's. At last, some headway! Now she just had to open her eyes. Ugh. She decided to content herself with listening for the time being.

"Now, you said that she has asthma, correct?" now that was a new voice. It was like Will's only deeper and more commanding. His father perhaps? But what was the Commander doing here? The figures continued their conversation, oblivious to their eavesdropper.

"Then why didn't she simply use an inhaler or something of the sort, since she's had the condition since childhood according to you," the voice said again. There was a pause in which Fatima felt the figures change positions in the room. She distinctly heard the flutter of two capes and concluded that Will's parents were in fact there.

"From my understanding, because of her powers to control air, she was able to treat herself and keep her condition a secret." There was the click of a pointer against what sounded like a poster.

"When having an asthma attack, she could simply force the airway open again to regulate her breathing until it passed. But over the years, continual use of this little trick began taking a toll. Because the inflammation was never treated, only stretched wider, scar tissue has accumulated around her throat, causing each attack to be worse than the last. And because of the Detention room's ability to suppress powers, she was not able to force her airway open like usual." There was another pause.

"Wouldn't she have been able to tell that she was only sabotaging herself?" Mrs. Stronghold asked.

"I can only assume so, but I suppose by the time she figured it out it was just easier to keep going than to seek proper treatment," Nurse Spex replied, shaking her head a bit. "If Principle Powers had come back just a little later, I don't think she would have made it." Fatima felt heat tingling her feet a little. Was Warren in the room? She couldn't tell, but she thought she felt a figure hunched against the far wall.

"Mr. Peace! Extinguish yourself at once!" Nurse Spex commanded frantically. Fatima smiled inwardly, seeing as she didn't have control of her facial muscles quite yet, but was getting there. A while later everyone filed out of the room, but Warren, who was last, paused in the doorway.

"I suppose you heard all of that," he said. Eep! How had he known that she was awake? Fatima peeked an eye open. He was glaring at her. She opened her eyes as much a she could (which wasn't much) and tried to speak.

"Cheater," she managed to half whisper, half rasp. She smiled a lopsided grin at him, trying to lighten the I-almost-just-died-in-your-arms mood.

"How could you be so stupid!" he yelled, surprising her. Soft words, comforting maybe, that was what she would have expected. But then again, this was Warren Peace after all.

"Why, even though you knew it was doing more harm than good... why would you still do it?" he demanded. "What were you thinking?"

"Do you think..." she started breathily, "that any of my foster homes... would have paid for it? Any of it? No. I had my treatment, and I'd use it as long as I could." He started to turn away.

"Hey," she said, getting his attention. She wiggled her hand, trying to move it, and finally succeeded in turning it over, palm up. She tried her best to motion for him to come over. She had to close her eyes for a second to rest, but they snapped open when she felt the warm calloused hand of a certain pyro slip into hers. She turned towards him and found him sitting in a chair next to her bed. His face was determined, but sad.

"Don't you even think of doing anything that stupid again. You're not allowed to," he said in a gentler tone. His gaze drifted away from hers to their intertwined hands. "I almost lost you..." he said, barely above a whisper. "Besides, who would tease Stronghold with me if you were gone?" he asked louder, almost hoping that she hadn't heard his previous comment. Fatima just smiled. She did rather like poking fun at their super strong friend. She sighed. Another day, another secret revealed. It's just as well, she supposed. But Warren... where had this side of him come from? She had always had a inkling that it existed, and she was a little flustered that he had seen fit to show her. But besides that, one thing tugged at the back of her mind that she tried to ignore. The fact that she really did like him... a lot.

-----

**Hmm... man, it's been so long that I hope my style is the same. I've been writting alot on my novels lately so I hope this chap wasn't too different from my other ones. Well, I got the urge to write this chapter when I was at work today. We were making room on our shelves for the new releases (Movie Gallery) and I found myself staring at the Sky High cover box (mainly Stephen Strait) and purring. That was when I knew that I must go on! **


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